


Some Time To Relax

by nbspandam



Category: Cirque du Freak | The Saga of Darren Shan - Darren Shan
Genre: Bathing/Washing, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-15
Updated: 2017-02-15
Packaged: 2018-09-24 16:12:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9769793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nbspandam/pseuds/nbspandam
Summary: During the group's search for the Vampaneze Lord to stop the world collapsing, Vancha and Larten take a moment to breathe and just be. Though Larten in secret has a plan to rope Vancha into doing something he never does: Take a bath.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to write something for this fandom, so here I am! It's my first work and I hope you enjoy it! Please leave kudos or a comment if it was to your liking.

Larten stared up at the slowly darkening sky above, letting out a sigh before he moved to stand. The camp had been set up so that Darren could have his rest. Harkat remained by his side, leaving Vancha and Larten to their own devices while day turned to night.  
  
He was sure that his charge would stay asleep for some time, what with how haggard he had looked on the way there. Moving to stand up, he felt a few joints crack as he stretched his arms over his head, causing him to snort a little bit. Was his age catching up with him, perhaps?  
  
“Was that your limbs making noise, Larten?” Vancha asked with a bark of a laugh, moving to stand up as well, with seemingly no joints cracking. That fiend. A hundred years older, yet no signs of old age. Larten supposed he was merely unlucky.  
  
“Are your ears losing their hearing? I was certain you could discern what that sound was without my assistance, Vancha.” he retorted, smirking a bit in amusement. What was a little bickering between loved ones? Nothing but harmless fun, surely.  
  
“Haha, touché.” was the reply his retort was given, followed by a comfortable silence.  
It was something he’d missed, though he was unsure of when it had really left. Perhaps it left during Darren’s disappearance and the chaos that followed? Regardless, he was glad that it had returned.  
  
It didn’t take long for his brooding to ruin it, though. There were so many things that could go wrong during this wild goose chase for the vampaneze lord, and they only had so many chances to even catch him in the first place. He let out a deep sigh, rubbing at one of his temples for a few moments. Now wasn’t the time to worry so much.  
  
If Vancha noticed his suddenly solemn mood, he didn’t mention anything as he tended to the small flames that had started to blossom on the firewood. The sound of fire crackling and the faint babble of the water stream nearby helped soothe his worries, at least for tonight.  
  
He glanced over to him for a moment, a devious little idea entering his mind as he observed the fire slowly increasing in size within its confines. He then started to remove his cape and shirt, repressing the urge to shiver at the slowly cooling evening air.  
  
“Could you keep the fire going for a while, Vancha? I plan on washing myself before it is too late.” he said, stepping out of his sandals before removing his trousers.  
  
Vancha paused with his poking in the fire and looked over at him, then let out a loud snort. He wasn’t surprised that Larten was going to clean himself off now, they’d been journeying for at least a week without any sort of pause to clean up.  
  
“Sure, just don’t take too long or I might just put it out.” he said, chuckling a bit as he settled down to poke at the fire again, adjusting the position of the firewood to keep things in order. He was a man of many talents, despite all of his eccentricities.  
  
“Haha, very funny.” was the response Larten gave as he went down the nearby slope to the stream of water, taking a moment to stand at the edge before stepping in. It was about as cold as one could expect, and he suppressed the shivers that threatened to wreck his body as he submerged himself in the water. It was deep enough for that, thankfully.  
  
It took pretty much no time at all for him to want to get out of the water, and so he made the decision to begin with his plan. He squeezed water of out the hair on his head to keep it from having water droplets roll down his neck, then left the stream and went back over to the fire, settling down next to Vancha as if to leech warmth off of him.  
  
“Argh! You’re colder than the mountainside, Larten!” Vancha exclaimed surprisingly quietly, apparently not wishing to wake Darren. Despite his complaints, he didn’t push Larten away or move away.  
  
“I wonder why that is.” Larten replied in a dry tone, letting out a chuckle as he leaned against his side. It was nice, to let go of some of the many social inhibitions he usually followed. Part of him regretted bathing when it was so cold, but the other part merely looked forward to putting their plan into motion.  
  
“Don’t you mock me now, you orange-haired bat.” was the amused reply he got for his remark, followed by a finger poking him in the ribcage. He twitched a bit, then reached for the finger and wrapped his hand around the hand it belonged to.  
  
“I am not mocking you, my dearest friend. I am merely confused as to why you thought I would be anything but cold after my dip in the water stream.” he said, placing his free hand on Vancha’s lower back while keeping his hold on his hand with the other.  
  
Vancha grumbled a bit in response, though he seemed to only be doing it in good fun.  
It seemed as if they both wanted a bit of time to simply be, and not worry about what was approaching in the future. There was something comforting about the way that they both understood without having to outright say it. In any other circumstance this shyness and reluctance to say it like it was would be detrimental, but not now. Now it was merely heartwarming, and it reminded Larten of a past time, when he had been young and carefree.  
  
He eventually wrapped both his arms around him, relaxing a bit despite the fact that he was still cold and wet from the water. Vancha didn’t seem to mind all that much either way.  
  
  
  
“I would kiss you more often if you did not smell terrible.” he remarked, moving his head down to rest it on Vancha’s shoulder. Heights be damned, he was going to be physically affectionate and he wasn’t going to let it stop him. Even if it was a means to an end, that didn’t mean he was being insincere about it. It merely had another purpose as well.  
  
“Then just kiss me on the mouth, instead of whining about my hygiene.” Vancha replied, laughing a little bit at the complaint. He knew Larten didn’t mean anything bad by it, so he merely thought of it was funny.  
  
He let out a quiet laugh of his own, lifting his head off of his shoulder before he leaned in and kissed him like Vancha had suggested, though he kept it short and chaste. Modern times or not, he wasn’t particularly fond of “The French Kiss” as it was called. It was simply too messy for his tastes.  
  
“See? That wasn’t so bad, right?” Vancha said, grinning a bit after Larten pulled away from his lips. He then let out a short yelp of surprise when he was picked up by his dear companion, following it up with a bit of laughter as he was carried off in a direction unknown to him.  
  
“Are you planning something that’ll make me scream, Larten?” he asked, peering at him curiously. Larten merely smirked at him in return, not giving him a real answer as he continued to walk.  
  
The poor vampire noticed the sound of running water far too late, and when he did he was already thrown into it, sinking into it like any other stone would. He came up sputtering just in time to see Larten on his knees in the dirt, tearing up a bit from barely quieted laughter.  
  
“You conniving ass! So this was your plan all along, huh? My pelts are soaked thanks to you.” Vancha said, pouting a bit as he left the very cold water and peeled off the pelts tied around his person.  
  
“Soaked pelts and your anger is a price I was willing to pay to get you to take a bath.” Larten managed to get out in the midst of his fits of laughter, and reached up to wipe at the tears that had gotten out. He then caught the pelts that were thrown at him, placing them on the ground before he went into the water.  
  
“Will you let me wash your hair?” he asked curiously as he came to a stop in front of Vancha, having managed to calm down. Now he was more intent on actually getting Vancha into a cleaner state than he was currently in.  
  
Vancha let out a deep sigh, then wrapped his arms around Larten and let his head rest real snug on his shoulder. He presumed that was a ‘yes’ on his part, and started to dig his fingers through his hair, carefully at first. He didn’t wish to tear hair out by the roots, even if it was a damn cluster of tangles and various bits and pieces of the forest.  
  
The two remained in the water for a while, Larten coming through Vancha’s hair to the best of his abilities while he rested his head on his shoulders, taking in the vague smell of iron, smoke and a very slight hint of dried paint. Centuries later, the smell of the paint used to turn Larten’s hair orange still stayed. How nostalgic.  
  
“...Vancha?”  
  
“Mmhm?”  
  
“...”  
  
  
A few seconds passed by without an answer, causing Vancha to lift his head up and look at him, raising an eyebrow. Larten still hesitated for just a moment, though he eventually shook off whatever it was that had caused him to pause and kissed him on the lips once again.  
  
“I love you.”  
  
It was said so quietly that Vancha swore that if he’d still senses like that of a human, he wouldn’t have been able to make it out over the sound of running water around them.  
He met Larten’s gaze, and grinned fondly at him.  
  
“Love you too, you sap. Now let’s get out of the water before we freeze and turn into two vampire icicles.” he said, his grin widening significantly when he was given a smile in return.  
  
They then got out of the water together, sitting down by the still burning fire to warm up.  
Larten made sure not to leave the pelts on the riverbank and laid them near the fire, leaving Vancha to poke at the fire and make sure it stayed alive.  
  
It was nice, to finally have some time to relax like this. They were both glad for it, definitely.  
  
-The End-


End file.
